I enjoyed all seven stories to some degree, so overall 4⭐

My favourite two were "Bazaar of the Bizarre" by Leiber, with his humorous take on a more typically grim genre before that was a thing, and; Mazirian the Magician by Vance, which is just classic low fantasy, and makes me regret having let go of his Dying Earth books sometime in my prehistory.
Editor, de Camp's, offering was interesting in his intention of making his story more realistic,⬇️

An exciting night of intrigue, murder & theft for Conan in a desert oasis town inhabited by cannibals & strange cults.

An opportunity for Howard to demonstrate some of his worst racism, with a seasoning of predatory sexism. Apologists say it's of its time: it's still 💩

My 4⭐ rating is based solely on the fantasy/adventure elements I read Howard for, & that while Conan is, famously, savage, he also isn't as thick as he's sometimes portrayed.

The penultimate story is Jack Vance's "Mazirian the Magician", which I read around 1980 in his "The Dying Earth" collection. It's a wonderful story of the Magicians' Duel variety, in an exotic far-future setting. Vance's magic system inspired Gary Gygax's AD&D wizardry, with mages able to memorise a set of spells which they forget as they cast them and have to relearn from grimoirs.
Mazirian is an interesting character of an unpleasant kind ??

#CatsOfLitsy
I am honoured that Skye has chosen to sit next to me while I read (yes, a cat post, but there's a book in the photo so don't @ me! 😏)
She's a rescue cat who is still settling in with us, & while she's sweet she's also excitable & scratchy (her tail is lashing as I write & I'm suppressing my urge to stroke her!). She does like being picked up & held & will allow strokes then, so I wander around the house like a mad cat-person!👨🏻‍🍼

I didn't find the book I went looking for today, but better than if I'd found it, I found a book I didn't know I was looking for 😊

"She's psychokinetic
And you're really gonna get it,
She's a teenage rock and roll girl.
She's a mistress of chaos
And she's here to dismay us,
Oh, Carrie you're a rock and roll girl"

Listening to Sultans of Ping, and this bookish song came on ?
? Teenage Rock and Roll Girl
? Teenage Drug
?️https://youtu.be/O4GSvGlkFoE?si=18sfKFeei9ipLg5O

Now, then, where's me jumper? ?
#BooksAndMusic

'Since colonization, the spurious voice of the white man has attempted to define the history of Australia."
- Editorial, Zoe Holman, #NewInternationalist #554

Focusing on Indigenous rights in Australia. Other stories include a profile in the "Hall of Infamy" section on RFK Jr.; Trump and Palestine (have recent events overtaken or confirmed this article?); a Cartoon History of the Suffragettes; and the survival of social movements in Sudan's war.

"A young boy, Zein Yousef, sleeps on the grave of his mother who died in an Israeli air strike in Gaza."
- Editorial, Amy Hall, #NewInternationalist #553

This edition focuses on the arms trade, so, as usual, not a barrel of laughs. Other stories include oil imperialism, ElΩn Mμsk vs. Brazil, and the role of British propaganda in controlling the narrative of the Kenyan Mau Mau uprising.

"The Gibbelins eat, as is well known, nothing less good than man."

- The Hoard of the Gibbelins, Lord Dunsany

#FirstLineFridays @shybookowl

"Litten" ?

Well, there's a word you don't often meet in the wild!

The first of the stories is a Fritz Leiber tale of Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser, with the added bonus of featuring their wizardly patrons, Ningauble of the Seven Eyes & Sheelba of the Eyeless Face.
In decadent Lankhmar's Plaza of Dark Delights, a gaudy new shop appears overnight. The wizards separately dispatch their protegés to end this extradimensional threat, the Mouser, typically, letting his curiosity & sybaritic tastes get the better of 👇🏻

Second edition of this collection of seven sword and sorcery tales. Published 1968, bought 1979, finally made it off Mount TBR 2025. 49 years of well-aged magic and mayhem! 😄

This is a comfort read as I've actually read many of the stories in other collections. Some favourite characters here, including Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Elric of Melniboné and Conan the Barbarian. Let the swashbuckling begin! ⚔️

I assume that as a Chair of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain and Curator of Gemstones for the Natural History Museum, Oldershaw is deeply passionate about her subject. I do, however, have to make that assumption as, sadly, there is no passion in her writing.
There's a lot of dryly-delivered facts themed into chapters, but often little connection between one paragraph and the next. There is no sense of wonder about the depths of 👇🏻

"Criticism of the traditional male role is often mistaken for criticism of men themselves. When this happens, men understandably become defensive, push away any discussion of gender, and are unable to hear women's appeals for change. Any gender-role discussion quickly becomes a "women's" problem, and the issue is repressed by men who feel unjustly accused, and by women who are afraid of men's disapproval and anger.”

- Peggy Natiello

I'm a third of the way through a 12-hour online conference: "The Future of the Person-Centred Approach: How to Serve a Changing World" and it's been by turns intense, dull and fascinating. A bit hard for my ADHD to maintain focus when people are rambling, despite being totally focused on another person is what I do for a living (or perhaps because of ?)

Having opened her short review of English diarists by categorising them as bores, O'Brien proves to be a lively guide to those of us who omit no detail of an anecdote, commenting that those qualities which in person are deadly dull as we have no polite escape, in written form are fascinating as we have the choice of reprieve & of skipping over.
The only diarist I'm inclined to explore further is 19th century governess Ellen Weeton, though her 👇🏼

"Let me begin with the hard saying that the best English diaries have been written by bores."

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

A little #BookMail
I'm enthused to read On Being an Autistic Therapist, but it may have to queue for a bit! Chapters written by autistic therapists about their experiences doing the work.
The Red Pavilion is a Judge Dee mystery, and thanks to World of Books' annoying practice of rarely sending the edition they display on their website, not a match to the others in the series I have shelved 🙄😮‍💨😤 (On Being an Autistic Bibliophile!).

A brief (48 pages) overview of some key diaries and journals from English history up to contemporary (i.e., 1943) times by Irish writer, Kate O'Brien.
It has 8 colour plates and 19 b&w illustrations, and is number 55 in an extensive series of books covering many aspects of English culture and history. Trying *very* hard for this series not to become a collecting "special interest"! ???

Reading "Fantastic Voyage" reminded me of my love of the miniaturised humans genre, of which there is too little written, and not enough in my collection, so I ordered some more, which arrived today ?
As well as FV, I've read Lindsey Gutteridge's Cold War in a Country Garden series, both authors using an espionage setting. The blurb for Gordon's Micronaut series gives the setting as an incipient overpopulation/food scarcity crisis, but
??

A fun novelisation of the 1966 movie by Asimov, who does what he can within the scifi premise to include realistic science as problems to be solved by the crew of scientists and technicians, miniaturised in a nuclear-powered submarine and injected into the bloodstream of a defecting physicist with an inoperable brain tumour to save his life and the knowledge he has in order to maintain a cold war stalemate.
👇🏼

I love a "micronauts" story, and I guess this is one of the most famous (perhaps alongside Matheson's The Incredible Shrinking Man", oh, and Honey I Shrunk the Kids, oh, and Inner Space, ok there's loads!). The trope is ancient, though, being found in folklore tales such as Tom Thumb.
The front cover of my edition (1966 first UK edition, for what that's worth) is slightly boring, but I like the back cover Technicolour movie still.

'"how could you do this to me?" said the Sun to the Moon
"how could you steal my light?"
a tear rolled down her pale cheek.
"i just wanted to be seen," said the Moon'

- siblings ☀️?️‍⚧️?

"As I write this book in the spring of 2019, it has become something of a truism among my community of queer people of colour that the end of the world is nigh."

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

? Book with Late-Winter Evening Half-Moon ???

The first essay in this collection of nonfiction and poetry is a critique of "the leftist social justice community" by a writer who identifies with that community, while acknowledging its problems.
An encouraging start ?

#CatsOfLitsy

Introducing Skye, whose adoption into the family happened today 😻

She's 2 years 4 months old, and was rescued from a building site about a year ago, where sadly she was being stoned by children 😡 This has made her nervous and scratchy-bitey around children, so she's been a bit of a revolving-door cat for the animal shelter. Luckily, I don't mind the odd mauling, so she's in her forever home now 😊

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

"On 20 January Donald Trump officially became president of the United States, much to the consternation of almost 50 percent of the US electorate, and many others around the world."

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

"SecUnits don't care about the news."

I feel that, Murderbot ?‍?

This is a re-readable series; I'm enjoying it more the second time around ?

At the risk of gorging myself, I'm going to re-read the first four Murderbot books before reading the following two for the first time, after which I will buy the latest one.

Also, I am well peeved that "Network Effect" is marginally larger in length and breadth than the other books. Who the fuck okayed that? ?‍♂️???
#BookPeeves

#TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude

"In my eyes
Indisposed
In disguises no one knows
Hides the face
Lies the snake
And the sun in my disgrace
Boiling heat
Summer stench
Neath the black, the sky looks dead
Call my name
Through the cream
And I'll hear you scream again

Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain?
Black hole sun
Won't you come"

?️Soundgarden
?Black Hole Sun
?Superunknown
?️ https://youtu.be/3mbBbFH9fAg?si=AtF6fUIXaUwPTFfr

"Secondhand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack...in this random miscellaneous company we may rub against some complete stranger who will, with luck, turn into the best friend we have in the world."

"Of all kinds of human weaknesses, the craze for collecting old books is the most excusable. During the early phases of the disease, the book-lover is content to purchase only books which he [sic] reads. Next he buys books which he means to read; and as his store accumulates, he hopes to read his purchases; but by-and-by he takes home books in beautiful bindings and of early date, but printed in extinct languages he cannot read." ????????

A little #BookHaul from my morning in Manchester, and a visit to the Queer Lit bookshop. I hope to read these all in the first quarter of 2025. Well, I can dream, can't I? 🤔💭🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

I've been cat-sitting for my son while he and his partner were visiting friends, and taking advantage of being in the city, I'm having breakfast at Gran T's in Ancoats.
I'm enjoying Gossip from the Forest, with its blend of nature writing & the author's riffs on fairy stories.
It's a two-bookmark-book: the red for the page I'm on, the black for the notes, in, If I do say so myself, an excellent example of #BookmarkMatching 🔖🔖😁
#BooksAndCoffee

#BookHaul
Although my beloved Broadhurst's Booksellers is no more, browsing in another shop I found that they have an entry in this 1982 Guide to the Secondhand and Antiquarian bookshops of Great Britain, so I had to buy it. When I come to read it, I will undoubtedly be checking which are still open, and will be making appropriate entries on Library Thing. ⬇️

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
"You may have picked up a stone from the beach and taken it home, or carried a small pebble with you as a reminder of a visit to a place of special significance; maybe you have visited ancient monuments made of stone, or you are simply intrigued by the tales and myths that surround stones."
Yep to all this!

Soundtrack:
?️The Supremes ?
?Stoned Love
?️https://youtu.be/D2ce7FWOAM8?si=sZ0su3DcEuVbx32b
#BooksAndMusic

Next up, a lushly illustrated cultural history of stones. I like a niche deep-dive, so have high hopes for this one: the author's credentials seem impressive. 💎🪨🗿

I enjoyed Wassef's memoir of balancing private life and co-managing a chain of independent bookshops in Cairo as much as I'd hoped, and more than I expected. I don't think I'd have liked to work for her though!
It was an engaging insight into recent Egyptian society and culture, as experienced by an educated, middle class, liberal woman in a patriarchal and increasingly conservative country.
Although I didn't get to her shop, Diwan, when we ⬇️

I may be a bit premature, but this is Skye, a rescue cat we've applied to re-home. We met her today at her foster home, now we have to wait for the animal shelter to do their checks and give their approval. Hopefully, we can bring her home in about a week or so 🤞😺
#CatsOfLitsy #FingersCrossed

“Never make a decision based on fear or guilt or guided by what you think is easier. Choose what rings true to you.”

#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern

It might be time to re-read this... ??

This LitHub article quotes from the book: "The incumbents refused to get out. It was very simple. They merely charged illegality in the elections and wrapped up the whole situation in the interminable red tape of the law." Sounds familiar! ?
https://lithub.com/how-jack-london-foresaw-the-anti-democratic-future-with-the-i...

I bought this a couple of years ago, and was reminded to take it off the shelf by the StoryGraph "reading the world" challenge, which this year has Egypt as one of its prompts.
The Diwan bookshop opened its first Cairo store in 2002, so it was there when we were passing through in 2008. I didn't get to it, and in fairness, given our limited time, I wouldn't have curtailed visiting the Cairo Museum, but still, it would've been nice... ????

"Sometimes we're up, sometimes we're down
But our feet are always on the ground
We always laugh, don't have to cry
And this is the reason why
We got love power.
It's the greatest power of them all.
We got love power
And together we can't fall." ❤️✊❤️

?️Dusty Springfield
?Love Power
?Dusty... ...Definitely
?️ https://youtu.be/b3tV_AptOsE?feature=shared

Bennett, under the pseudonym Francis Stevens, was an early writer of weird fiction, admired in the 1920s (Lovecraft), but long eclipsed by others in the genre (Lovecraft), and not included in a seminal overview of the weird, "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (Lovecraft). Even some photos of her are of doubted authenticity (the one I've posted is held as genuine). She is belatedly being seen as an originator of dark fantasy, so it's nice to ⬇️

"Extract from entry of May 17, 19--, in the log of the Portsmouth Bell, British merchant vessel, Captain Charles Jessamy, Master:
The floating scoria and ashes covering the sea in an almost unbroken thickness from six to fifteen inches are greatly impeding our progress."

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

This is a good locked-room mystery with an interesting detective who, my manga-reading daughter tells me, she felt may have been, in part, an inspiration for the Death Note detective, L.
I liked the metatextual discussion of locked-room mysteries by the narrator & by the characters, which bore directly on the story itself: very clever. The setting and cultural insight was interesting, too.
I've ordered the second in the series from the library 😊

This is a good locked-room mystery with an interesting detective who, my manga-reading daughter tells me, she felt may have been, in part, an inspiration for the Death Note detective, L.
I liked the metatextual discussion of locked-room mysteries by the narrator & by the characters, which bore directly on the story itself: very clever. The setting and cultural insight was interesting, too.
I've ordered the second in the series from the library 😊

#BookHaul
My son got me a present of Murderbot hardbacks, partly to regularise my collection into uniform editions, partly to replace the ones I'd lent him which he water damaged! 🌊📚😱 😄
I got Enchanted Creatures and Claimed! for myself, the latter being my next read.

#TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude

A koto plays a part in the plot of "The Honjin Murders", though as I'm near the beginning of the story, quite what its significance is I've yet to discover. However, the mention of the instrument immediately made me think of the sublime "Koto Song" by The Dave Brubeck Quartet, so their album "Jazz Impressions of Japan" is now my soundtrack ❤️ ??❤️

https://youtu.be/LbdD9gPnhhM?si=mh0jsYkKny4gLWLQ

#BooksAndMusic

I thoroughly enjoyed Helen Wilson's cultural history of the robin. Focusing on the European robin (Erithacus rubecula), it includes the American robin (incongruously Disneyfied into Mary Poppins's London in A Spoonful of Sugar, though not as alarmingly as Dick van Dyke's cockney accent), the Asian magpie robin, & other species unrelated genetically but which have been given the name.
Lots of wonderful photos & illustrations: a quick, light read.